The closing paragraph of Winebrenner's testimony, just quoted, succinctly
mentions facts of sufficient historical importance to command the next two
chapters for our consideration.

He began his pastorate of the Reformed churches named at a time of their
worldliness and formality. This condition, as we have seen, was quite general.
But it was also a time when many hearts were being touched by revival movements,
led by earnest souls who were concerned for the spiritual welfare of the people.
And when we recall the devout disposition of Winebrenner from his youth up, and
his glorious conversion while he was a theological student in Philadelphia, we
are not surprised that in the prevailing conflict between the forces of
formality and spirituality he took his stand with the latter and soon became a
leader among them. He was pre-eminently an evangelistic preacher, and God
honored his preaching with "glorious revivals of religion." But it
also aroused, as he says, "vehement opposition" on the part of those
who were unwilling to yield to his pleas for a genuine Christian life. This was
the primary and fundamental cause of the cleavage which, about five years after
he assumed the responsibilities of this pastorate, resulted in his separation
from the German Reformed denomination.

The difficulties between the pastor and a part of his church membership and the
futile efforts to adjust matters, which extended over much of this five-year
period, need not be considered at length. Minor and incidental factors naturally
entered in from time to time. But that the vital cause was the one mentioned is
evident from the official complaints which his opponents lodged against him.
They complained that he sometimes attended the Methodist meetings, occasionally
preached for them, and even advised his people to attend there when they had no
services of their own; that he held too many prayer-meetings or anxious meetings
and conducted them with too much noise and confusion; inviting those who wanted
to be prayed for to come forward; allowing persons to groan during prayer and
others to respond with amens; also that he continued these meetings till too
late an hour of the night. And as a condition of compromise they proposed that
"he must preach for them only, and not for other congregations; and
hereafter not invite so-called unordained ministers to preach in his pulpit; and
not hold more than one prayer-meeting a week, nor keep it up later than nine
o'clock at night." Winebrenner's answer was "I will not consent to
these arrangements, for I am a free man, preach a free gospel, and I will go
where the Lord calls me to go."

The Sunday following this meeting with his vestry, which was in the Spring of
1823, he found the church-house in Harrisburg locked against him, and, with the
part of the membership which stood with him, estimated at about one-half, went
to the bank of the Susquehanna river, two blocks distant, and held their
service. He received similar treatment at other churches on his charge.
"This state of things," says Winebrenner, "lasted for about five
years, [till 1825] and then resulted in a separation from the German Reformed
Church." He speaks of this separation as his withdrawal. The Synod of 1825
was the last he attended. But it was not until three years later that official
action was taken by the Synod to the effect that "he ought not to be any
longer considered a member of this body."

No doubt Winebrenner sincerely felt, as he says, that "the members of these
congregations or churches were unconverted, with few exceptions, and many
grossly ignorant of the right ways of the Lord." With this sense of
pastoral responsibility he preached "experimental religion," using as
his favorite text, "Ye must be born again" [John 3:7]. And those who
accepted the truth and entered into the joys of spiritual fellowship with their
Lord, naturally followed their pastor when the crisis came and he severed his
denominational ties. They felt that they could not be unequally yoked together
with those who rejected the offers of mercy and refused to enter into the
blessings of regenerating grace.

While Winebrenner was intensely evangelistic, with the enthusiasm of a young
convert of the cross, he was in no sense a mystic. He was more than a theorist.
He was practical as well as pious. One of the first acts of his pastorate was to
organize a Sunday-school for the Salem Reformed Church. This was one of the new
features being introduced into the work of the Reformed churches at that time,
parochial schools having been the principal means for the religious training of
their children.

Feeling that in order to do aggressive work a better building was needed than
the log house in which the church had been worshipping, he started a movement
toward that end. As a result, in less than eight months after he assumed the
pastorate the corner-stone was laid, and the new house of worship was dedicated
August 4, 1822. This building, after more than a hundred years, is still in
splendid condition, is used regularly by the Salem Reformed congregation, and is
one of the prominent church-houses of Harrisburg.

This pastorate was of itself a heavy responsibility for a young man just out of
school. The building program which he launched and successfully carried out, a
very ambitious one for that time, added greatly to his responsibilities and
labors. He also married and established his own home, Charlotte M. Reutter, of
Harrisburg, becoming his wife on October 10, 1822. And finally, he ended that
period of his life's work by withdrawing from the denomination in which he had
been born, raised and educated and by which he had been inducted into the
Christian ministry. And all this in the short space of five years?from 1820 to
1825, and while he was passing through that period of his early manhood between
the ages of twenty-three and twenty-eight.

His deepest desire was to bring his brethren of the Reformed Church to an
experimental knowledge of personal salvation. He had no desire to leave his
denomination, and did so only when circumstances forced him to that decision.
And when the crisis came it involved a sacrifice not easy to realize. It meant
the turning away not only from the Church of his childhood and youth, but also
from the faith of those nearest to him by the ties of blood. Nothing but the
voice of God could justify such a step, and it was that Voice which Winebrenner
verily believed he was hearing and heeding. From the time of his genuine
conversion, eight years before, he had exercised an abiding confidence in the
Lord, and by Him he was sustained. This enabled him to pass through these most
trying experiences of his life with Christian fortitude. In evidence of this
there has come down to us a precious glimpse into his inner life at this time, a
brief meditation written on March 25, 1825, his twenty-eighth birthday, in which
he says:

"Today l am twenty-eight years old. Hitherto a kind and gracious providence
has brought me. And by the grace of God I am what I am. I have abundant cause to
say, that, in very deed the Lord has been good to me; infinitely more so, than I
have in any wise deserved, or could have expected, considering how often I have
sinned against him and how little I have glorified him. But, I desire to be
unfeignedly thankful to God for the past, and to trust him for the future. If my
life should be spared 28 years more, I do most devoutly hope and pray that I
shall have done 28 times as much for God as I have hitherto done or accomplished
for him. My ardent desire is to live to the praise of God, and to the good of my
fellow creatures, whilst I have my abode in this world. And, whether my years be
many or few in this world, I wish to spend them all in the ways and service of
my Maker. It is now about eight years since I left the Egypt of this world, and
entered upon the spiritual journey towards the Canaan in the skies. And though,
like the Israelites of old, I have had to drink the bitter waters of Marah, like
them also I have found the sweet and delightful waters of Elim."